Rose Blood
by Wildflame
Summary: Sonic rejects Amy for the last time. When she starts feeling suicidal, can anyone pull her out of the darkness Sonic forced her into? Can someone save her or will Amy throw her life away for unrequited love? ShadAmy
1. Bloody Rejection

**_Rose Blood_**

**_Chapter 1_**

**_Bloody Rejection_**

Disclaimer: I don't own Amy, Shadow, Sonic or any of the Sonic characters, if I did why would I be writing FANFICTION? Answer me that people!

I just kind of...started writing, we'll see how it goes.

* * *

"_Amy, look, I don't wanna hurt your feelings, but I don't like you like that, and I doubt I ever will...so stop torturing yourself." Amy stared blankly at her hero, her eyes turning towards the ground, trying to fight back tears. _

"_But, Sonic, I love you..." She looked up into his green eyes and he just looked away, somewhat guiltily. He nodded, but then turned from her._

"_I know you do...but I don't love you." _

---

That was the only thing Amy Rose could think of. He had said "never". He said he was never going to like her like she liked him. He would never love her. Her heart felt torn into two pieces. She sat silently on the footsteps that led up to City Hall. She hadn't seen anyone in Station Square that she had recognized in the least. People passed by her, not even noticing. Amy finally let a few tears slide down her cheeks. Finally, as the pink hedgehog continued to stare at the ground. She was jerked back to reality abruptly from a pair of white boots coming into her vision. "Amy, what's the matter, you look a little down." The small hedgehog lifted her head to see Rouge the Bat before her. A melancholy sigh was all she could get out in response, she didn't want to have to relive the event anymore than she already was. Rouge sat down beside her on the concrete steps, "C'mon, Amy, if you don't talk about it, it's never going to get better, what did Sonic do now?"

Amy smiled slightly, it was funny every time she was upset, all of her friends blamed it on the blue hedgehog. "He's never going to like me as anymore than a friend." She felt Rouge keep staring at her, but the bat didn't say anything. She pinched her eyes shut, trying to suppress tears, which burned at her sockets and came forth anyway. She felt Rouge's hand on her shoulder, but she couldn't bring herself to look at the woman.

"Don't worry, Amy." Amy wondered how Rouge could even say a thing like that, she was never going to recover, her one true love had completely and totally rejected her. Depression swelled in her mind, as gruesome thoughts came to pass in her mind, thoughts of not wanting to live anymore. She would never admit this to Rouge, she was supposed to be the cheery girl who kept everyone in good spirits. Well, now her spirits were crushed and they were never going to be built back up again.

Amy kept her eyes on the frigid ground, it was late November and it was already freezing outside. Amy thought it was quaint for how well it matched her insides. She shivered slightly, but Rouge didn't even notice. "Yeah..." She just mumbled under her breath after that, the white bat just looked at her for a long time. Rouge really didn't know what to say, she had never been good at cheering people up. Though, the bat was convinced she could have thought up something, had someone not interrupted.

"What are you two idiots doing out here?" It was Shadow. "It's freezing cold, so you're just going to sit outside?" Amy slowly lifted her head to see the black hedgehog. Her heart sunk in her chest as she didn't want to have to explain it to him or Rouge or anyone, luckily for her, Shadow didn't seem overly interested in what was wrong with her. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice anything was. Amy's thoughts jumbled as she thought the red-eyed hedgehog over, he had never shown much compassion for anyone. Come to think of it, towards her, he reminded her of Sonic.

"Well, I was just passing by and Amy seemed to be a little down in the dumps." Shadow raised as eye ridge at Rouge, then looked back down at Amy. She wasn't looking up at him anymore, her head bowed sadly. Shadow looked like her might care for a moment, then he simply shrugged his shoulders and spun on his heels.

"Yeah, well...whatever Sonic did, I'm sure she'll get over it." His voice was icy, something else that matched how her heart felt. A feeling of relief mixed with more sadness filled in her mind, a mixture no one usually felt. She couldn't help, but be slightly upset that Shadow hadn't even cared enough to ask her what happened. He assumed it was Sonic, and of course it was the blue blur, but he could have said something encouraging, but that wasn't Shadow's style anyway.

Amy stood up, her eyes never leaving the ground, "Uh-huh." Shadow gave her another glance as he realized she stood up. She was taking his advice, it was cold and she didn't need to get sick on top of a broken heart. Her mind screamed he was wrong though, she would never get over it. She was never going to love anyone again, she never wanted to feel again. She didn't want to _live _anymore. These thoughts scared Amy, she had never thought like this before. Not wanting to live? She didn't though, Sonic had ripped her heart out for the last time. Everyone thought of her as a nuisance anyway, so why not just go through with it. She said nothing though, she turned and started back towards her house.

"Amy, wait..." She blinked turning slightly to see that Shadow actually stared at her. Her glance seemed to be enough of a response, as he continued, "...you are okay, aren't you?" This took her by surprise, Shadow actually asking her if she was all right, and after his little front just a second ago. She simply lied and nodded her head.

She lied through her teeth as she stared into his piercing red eyes, "I'll be fine." He gave her a slightly shrug, forcing thoughts of concern from him.

'_I love him, he's the only person I'll ever love...and, now he's never going to return that love, so what is the point of living anymore?' _Her thoughts had stopped scaring her, she was beginning to accept the fact that she hated this life. She didn't want to be the little nuisance that tagged along, chasing after an impossible dream. She wanted to be taken seriously, and she knew how she could do that. She turned from Shadow and Rouge once again, she felt them still watching her. She wondered why they were staring like they were, she didn't want to tell anyone what she was going to do. Her mind was made up, she was just going to do it, then they'd all get how she felt.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" He continued to surprise her, but she couldn't resist taking the offer. Somehow the simple question, something that shouldn't have mattered at all. Seemed to remove the knife Sonic had plunged into her heart, she looked back at him. Sadness lifting from her green eyes just slightly, she almost smiled. She didn't know why Shadow's offer made her feel better, but it did, not much, and the suicidal thoughts continued to encircle her mind, but it did make things seem a little better.

She nodded her head just slightly, "Sure, Shadow." For a moment, she wondered if the black hedgehog would say something like 'yeah, right'. But even before he spoke, she thought that idiotic the hedgehog was far too respectable to pull an immature stunt like that. He smiled and nodded to Rouge, who returned the nod and turned to go. He caught up with her, as she was only a brief distance away.

They started walking, and Shadow just kept shooting her glances, though her glance remained on the ground. She wondered what he was thinking. "I didn't make you mad earlier, did I?" Amy looked up to him, she looked slightly confused. She thought back over the event, and figured he meant by his lackadaisical attitude towards her depression. No, she hadn't been mad at all. She had just figured it wouldn't do any good to be mad, Shadow never seemed to care much for her.

She shook her head, "No." He nodded, glad to hear that, obviously. He watched her, she kept her glance firmly planted on the ground. The pink hedgehog hadn't even looked up to respond to him when he spoke. He had never seen this side of Amy before, he thought the only capability she had was to be upbeat and trying to make everyone else the same way. Honestly, she had gotten on his nerves in the past, but now she wasn't at all, yet, he wished she was back to her usual self.

"What_ did_ Sonic do?" She winced, finally she lifted her gaze to the black hedgehog. She looked straight ahead, trying to compose herself enough to answer. She wanted to leap into the hedgehog's arms and just cry. She was glad he asked, but she didn't want to respond. Though, the question did prove he cared to a slight degree.

Amy bit into her lower lip, keeping her glance cast forward, "Nothing out of the ordinary, just not in the mood to be rejected today." He tore his glance from her now, thinking it over, Sonic did seem to always be pushing Amy away. He had never noticed before, probably because he saw himself doing the exact same thing if given that much attention, but thinking it over, he wondered how Amy took so much of that.

"Well, most people aren't any day." She nodded her head, but refused to look at him again. She knew they were getting closer to her house. She fought back tears furiously, her vision blurry from the few of them that were especially stubborn.

"Most people." She sighed, she could usually take Sonic pushing her away, being hateful almost, she knew Sonic meant no harm, but he didn't love her and he never would. That's what he said, but that had been the hope she had clung to like a fool, that one day he would. But with the term never thrown in there, her hope had been completely diminished.

Shadow shrugged his shoulders, seeing the young hedgehog's house, he didn't say anything for the rest of the short walk, getting sick of trying to talk to Amy, when all he was getting was shoved aside. She was obviously severely depressed over her hero's actions right now. He planned to ask Sonic what he had done later that day, but at the moment he had to figure out how to say bye to Amy. "Well, we're here." She sighed and gave him a brief hug, he thought that was odd. Though, she still seemed to retain some of her old nature. He couldn't help but blush slightly at the hug, her body was really warm, and the coldness outside had been getting to him.

"Thank you so much, Shadow." She gave him a weak smile and he simply nodded to her. Her heart still set on what she had planned though, somehow she wanted to wrap her arms around Shadow and keep him there. She knew if he left her, she was going to have to do it. Her depression was going to drive her insane when he was gone. She would have asked him to stay, had she not been so wary of how that always worked out with Sonic. "I needed someone to walk me home."

The black hedgehog just smiled slightly, "Sure, I figured I was pretty mean before, so thought I owed it to you." She nodded. He looked at the door, then at her expression, "You gonna be okay, now, though?" No. She wasn't, she wasn't going to be okay. She couldn't tell him that, he had enough to worry about with his own life. So, she nodded her head, in another lie.

"I'll be fine, thanks."

He nodded and turned to go, leaving her standing on her own front porch. The wind picked up and chilled her to the bone, she continued to watch him leave. He turned back around for a moment, wondering if she was going to go in or not. She wanted to scream for him to come back, but she couldn't. She turned back to the door and opened it, Shadow stood there and watched it click shut. "Amy..." He mumbled softly, then turned and activated his jet shoes, taking off.

---

Amy walked into her house, it was just as she left it. She looked to her message machine, it said two. She slowly eased over to it and pressed the button to listen to them. She sat down on the couch, as it initiated the process she was usually so into. Her mind fell over thoughts of suicide, then the answering machine began.

"_Friday, November 21st, 11:23 am..." _The machine's voice was so emotionless, she envied it at this moment, yet thought envying an answering machine was so stupid.

"_Hey Amy!" _Cream. _"I was just wondering if you're still going to the mall on Sunday, if you are, call me, I have nothing better to do, so I might tag along, if that's okay with you!" _She stared at it for a long time, no, she wasn't going on Sunday, she didn't plan to be in this world Sunday. Her thoughts brought another fear to mind, but she dismissed and pressed the button to erase the message.

"_Friday, November 21st, 1:52 pm..." _She listened intently, she wanted it to be Sonic, but she didn't want it to be him. She didn't want to have to listen to that voice she was so in love with. Her heart did sink though, when the machine spoke again.

"_Amy..." _It was him. _"Look, I'm sorry if I upset you earlier, I hope you don't hate me, but I can't lie to you...I really am sorry, later." _He didn't even have to say it was him and he knew that, she knew it was. She took a deep breath, he hadn't meant anything by it, no, but it had crushed her. She felt like a cinder block had just been dropped on her heart as she pressed the erase button again. Amy knew it wasn't right to punish him for something he couldn't help, but she didn't want to be here anymore. She had no one to love, no hope to hang on to, why would she live anymore? She sighed and walked from the answering machine, the machine flashing back to zero.

She walked into the kitchen and slowly picked up a knife. She wanted to know what it would feel like, she wanted to know if physical pain, stuff Sonic and Shadow took every day from Eggman's robots, would feel as bad as emotional pain. She turned her wrist over, staring at it blankly for a long time. She moved the sharp edge of the knife along her wrist. It hurt, but it almost helped her mental pain somewhat. She didn't like it, but it provided relief. She stared at the line she had just made in her wrist, crimson liquid flowing down from it. Amy stared at it for a long time, then did it again. This time it was somewhat deeper as she stared at it. "Red, blood is red, like the color you think of ... when you think of love, so this is how I'll do it. I'll bleed out all my emotions, all my love." She repeated the process.

---

"Shadow!" The name jerked him from his thoughts as he whirled around on his heels, an interested expression on his face. He was in a fairly good mood, slightly worried about Amy, and he had no idea why. But, his spirits were rather high right now. He recognized the voice as it registered, before he even saw the blue hedgehog. Sonic was across the street and as he walked over to him, Shadow waited on him. "Hey."

"Hey, Faker." Sonic scowled at the nickname, Shadow had basically stuck him with. He crossed his arms and watched the black hedgehog smirk at his expression. Shadow wondered what Sonic could want, figuring he just wanted to talk to him, then remembered how upset Amy had been. He gave Sonic a turn to talk before he questioned him though, he knew how it felt like to reject a girl, as he had done to Rouge before, though, she hadn't taken it quite so hard. She had just slapped him across the face, and swore she'd never speak to him again. Then, she called him a few days later, asking him if he wanted to do something. But, Rouge didn't seem as sensitive as Amy.

Sonic stared at Shadow, who was giving him a skeptical look, it wasn't a mean look though, Shadow and Sonic had actually become pretty good friends, that's why Shadow figured he was in the place to ask Sonic about Amy, "You look like something's buggin' you, Shadow." The black hedgehog made a face, since when had Sonic been able to read minds.

"Well, yeah...I walked Amy home earlier, you really have her all upset." The blue hedgehog bowed his head and heaved a sigh. He just shook his head and eventually came to shrug his shoulders, giving Shadow a resigned look.

"I didn't mean to, but I don't like her, I told her I never would...I guess I shouldn't have been so damned blunt." The red-eyed hedgehog laughed and him and nodded his head with a "duh" expression etched into his features.

Sonic shrugged, "She'll be okay, though...she's Amy...she's too happy to be sad for too long." Shadow shrugged as well, and looked at Sonic. The blue blur seemed to believe this, and he figured he should probably take Sonic's word for it, but he couldn't get her out of his mind.

'_Sonic does have a point, I can't imagine her being sad for much longer, and she's just a silly little girl that follows Sonic around, why do I care?'_ Sonic patted him on the back after a second and he gave him an annoyed look. He crossed his arms over his chest, knowing Sonic was about to mock him for being concerned about Amy. The thing was, he still was concerned about her, he had no idea why, but she kept nagging at his mind.

"Why were you so worried, Shadow, hm?" His tone was mocking, as was to be expected, but it looked like the blue hedgehog wanted an honest answer. Shadow shrugged his shoulders, then just sent him another look. He turned to go, waving Sonic off, who pestered him further about why he was worried about Amy.

"I wasn't, I've just never seen her sad before," he lied. The green eyed hedgehog simply nodded his head and then turned to go, throwing a hand into the air, giving Shadow a wave-salute type thing, that the black hedgehog found incredibly stupid. Sonic laughed and nodded his head at the third look he got today.

Sonic nodded his head, "Well, don't let her worry you...I'm sure it's just a phase." He took off, Shadow didn't watch him leaving for long. He turned, he would have just gone ahead and ran back to his apartment, but when he walked he thought better. His thoughts swirled around Amy, he kept seeing her in his head. How sad she looked, and how pretty she looked. He rejected the thought immediately, since Maria, Shadow had not wanted anything to do with love. He hadn't had a problem with that, until now.

He thought the entire way home, an annoyed expression coming over him as he realized if he did like Amy, the only person she was ever going to be interested in was Sonic. He didn't get saddened by this, he already knew this, he just wondered why he would suddenly get a love interest. It unnerved him that depression seemed to catch his interest like it did, or maybe it was just guilt that haunted him for being so mean. He almost ran into his door, surprised that he had even walked up the stairs to get to his room. He hadn't remembered doing so, he supposed it was simply because he was so wrapped up in his thoughts. He sighed and inserted the key into the lock, walking in. His apartment was really simple, he didn't really see the use for all the knickknacks everyone else had in their homes. He wasn't even here, other than just to sleep. _'How sad could she be? It's just one guy, girls aren't supposed to let themselves get all worked up over guys, anyway...I understand she's liked him for a long time, but still...'_

He sprawled out on his couch, staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't help but wonder what she was doing now. His heart almost fluttered as she entered his mind again, he sat up, gritting his teeth. _'What the fuck? Why am I thinking like this?' _It wasn't anger he was feeling, but confusion. He didn't want to like Amy like that, she was just this pink-haired girl that he knew who followed Sonic the Hedgehog around everywhere he went. How could he like her, even as a friend? She was annoying. He tried desperately to convince himself of this, realizing it wasn't working, he stood up. _'Maybe I need to go back by her house and see her again, then I can get everything figured out?' _

A knock on his door jerked him from his thoughts, he wondered if someone had followed him home, it was too soon after he got home to be anything else. He walked to the door and opened it, it was Knuckles. "Knuckles?" He repeated his thought process as he stared at the red echidna. Knuckles was never usually anywhere around, as he didn't live near here, but he had come by a few times. Before, Shadow had harbored an intense dislike for Knuckles, but he had gotten over that as well. He really didn't hate anyone in Sonic's little 'group' anymore. They had been nice to him, so he saw no reason to. However, he still hadn't gotten over the grudge over mankind he still clung to.

"Hey Shadow!" Obviously, from the tone in his voice, Knuckles had something planned. It was most likely about Rouge, Knuckles had started talking to him only after he had turned Rouge down. Before that he never said anything to Shadow, he would just shoot him a random glare every time Rouge was around. But now, Rouge liked Knuckles, she had to move on to somebody else. The thought of Amy doing that crossed Shadow's mind, but again, he dismissed it in annoyance.

Shadow held up a hand to say hey for him, as he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to do much else. "What is it, Knuckles?" Knuckles seemed to examine him for a moment, to Shadow, it seemed like absolutely everyone wanted to read your mind. That was one good thing about his memories from the ARK, everyone stayed out of your business.

"Is something wrong?" Shadow shook his head, "Oh...well, hey, you have any ideas on what I should take Rouge...we're going to...erm..." Knuckles seemed to have trouble finding the correct term, as he obviously didn't want to say some stupid slang term that all the humans seemed to be so inclined to use, "...well, I'm going to her house tonight." Shadow laughed at the frustration Knuckles was having with the correct wording.

Shadow gave a sigh after a moment though, "Knuckles...I've told you before, I have no _idea_ how to handle girls, I don't even know why she liked me when she did." The echidna nodded his head in exasperation, he sent a look in Shadow's direction.

"I don't either, Shadow, she had to be on something..."

"You're hilarious, Knuckles." Knuckles beamed, Shadow knew he didn't take him seriously. The black hedgehog laughed at Knuckles' stupid expression. He shoved him, somewhat playfully, out of the doorway so he could shut it. "Don't worry about it, just get her whatever...I'm sure she'll love it." He shut the door, before the echidna could say anything else.

---

Amy kneeled, cleaning up the mess of blood on her kitchen floor. She decided quietly that the kitchen was not the place to do this. She looked at her wrist, slits covering each of them coming halfway up the under side of her forearm. She smiled, it had helped considerable, but it was obvious. Suddenly, she was glad it was winter time, realizing a coat would easily cover the marks up. Her mind drifted back to Sonic, "One day, I'm not going to love you anymore." Her whisper was hardly audible to her own ears. Then her mind took a strange route, she thought of Shadow. _'Shadow?' _

Her thoughts took her back to him walking her home, she knew he had watched her while she went inside. A desire for him to be there came over her quicker than she could have imagined. _'NO! Not again!' _She picked up the knife, _'If I'm going to be like this...to fall in love again...then I might as well do it now.' _She stared down at her chest, where the knife she held was now directed. Amy simply sighed, another thought of Shadow rushing over her like a wave, she set the knife on the counter. Her memory swirling with his expressions.

"Shadow...the Hedgehog?" She questioned aloud, she remembered him. Slowly the pain of the rejection she had held inside her all of those years began to disappear, slowly. Her mind began to cloud with thoughts of him, and him alone, _'But, what if he's just like Sonic? What if I get rejected by him too? Then what?' _She hissed at the mere thought, but the thought of him brought a little bit of light into her world of darkness that she had just recently fallen in to.

Amy looked out her window, it was getting later and later, darkness already seeping into the blue sky. She was glad, she was ready to get some rest. The suicidal thoughts had mostly left her, the thought of running the knife down her wrist seemed perfectly satisfying. Thought, maybe the real thought that was keeping her from doing it was Shadow, it couldn't have been Sonic, true enough, she had loved Sonic. She had no intention of continuing to, tears brimmed at her eyes from the thought of him though. She knew, if she wasn't going to kill herself, she had to live through this life. She had to. Amy let out a sight and slowly looked over to her phone, thoughts of Shadow leaning hauntingly on her mind. She slowly walked over to her couch and plopped down, her mind racing.

--

Amy slowly sat up from her position on her couch, looking over to her clock it was 2 am. Amy cursed herself silently and got up off the uncomfortable position on her couch and started towards her room. She fell down on her bed, and didn't even change clothes. She just drifted off into another sleep, her dreams of Sonic and Shadow confusing her beyond reason. Her heart sped up as her sleep carried her to a rather distant location.

_She stood in a fog covered plain, she looked around for anyone. No one was there, or no one she could see. She heard a familiar voice, but she couldn't make it out, "Amy, Amy, where are you?" It was a male's voice, but her memory would just not let her figure out who it was. Then, her mouth refused to let her speak. Frightened, she started running through the dense fog, she couldn't find where the voice was coming from. "Amy? Hello?" She couldn't place a finger on who's it was. _

_She whirled and started in the other direction, swearing it came from that way now, her body suddenly began to ache, her legs getting extremely weary. Amy slowly bent down to check to see what was wrong, nothing, but they refused to move. She fell to the ground, tears stinging at her eyes as she tried to call out to the voice. "Amy!" It was desperate this time, almost hopeless. Suddenly she saw a shadowed figure, it was a hedgehog, but she couldn't make out if it was Sonic or Shadow or someone completely different._

_She began to crawl towards it. _

Amy jerked up, rivulets of sweat pouring down her body and face. She panted hard, thinking back to the dream, seeing if in consciousness, she could remember the voice, recall who it was, no such luck. She sighed and squinted as she turned her head towards the window, it was morning again. She had to go out and face the world. The pink hedgehog slowly got up and moved towards her bathroom. If nothing else, Amy knew she needed a shower.

Amy turned up the nozzle and discarded the small dress she was wearing, she stepped into the shower. The water was extremely hot, she had always liked it that way. It was down her in all directions, and she blankly stared at the cuts on her wrist, a smile played upon her lips, not a happy, but a satisfied one.

After a brief shower, she slowly exited it and dried herself off with a towel, going to her closest and picking out a purple dress, she always like bright colors, but now, they were annoying her to no end. She slowly slipped into a sweater that covered the marks on her arm. She headed for the door, she didn't know where she was going, but she wanted to get out. She walked down the steps of her front porch, normally, she would have been going to find Sonic. She wasn't sure what she was doing now though, definitely not wanting to find Sonic.

It was slightly warmer today, but the sweater was still necessary for more than covering her cuts. A deep breath escaped her, she couldn't stop herself from thinking of the black hedgehog. It almost irritated her, she didn't need to go through this again. She smiled to herself, looking towards the ground. Her heels clicked melodically on the ground, seeming to make a tune all their own.

Amy turned things over in her mind, right now, her life seemed like it was completely falling apart. She didn't know whether to smile or cry, she didn't even know if she wanted to live or not. She gritted her teeth, turning her face back towards the ground. She bit into the side of her cheek, she didn't know if she was biting hard enough to cause it to bleed, but it didn't, so she assumed she wasn't. Her mind stayed focused on Shadow this time, not wandering off to think over the rejection and pain Sonic had left there so plainly. _'Maybe I should give Shadow a chance to ...love me, and not automatically assume because of Sonic? I'm just so scared it's going to happen all over again.' _

She stumbled slightly, as she looked up and didn't see a crack in the sidewalk. She mumbled in frustration and kept walking, with a new destination in mind.

* * *

Wow! That was completely random! I have NO idea where that came from, I guess it's a budding from my own thoughts. I haven't been rejected, but I've recently started liking a new guy. I'm assuming this won't be long, but it isn't a one shot. It will probably be a few chapters, I'm sure it won't be too popular, considering I just scribbled it down. Well, typed it...down, but whatever, that's gay. Anyway, yeah! 


	2. Darkest Before Dawn

_**Chapter 2**_

_**Darkest Before Dawn**_

_Oh! I forgot this last chapter, I got the rigid framework of this story while reading Aveestar's "Bloody Rose"...so you know what? Go read it. NOW._

* * *

Amy's feet moved in a particular pattern that she couldn't figure out. Her heels clicked along the sidewalk somewhat rhythmically, she focused on that before anything else. Thoughts wondering over the fact that Shadow might notice her bruises. Suddenly a voice called her from her thoughts, she looked up to find it and realized she was already in the middle of Station Square. She moved fast when she was thinking. "Amy!" Her mind whirled in a torrent for a second before she caught on to who it was. 

The current bane of her existence, Sonic the Hedgehog, "..." Her eyes fell over him, she said nothing as she looked into those green eyes. He had a bit of guilt in his eyes, but at the same time he had that cool, uncaring air about him. She just drew in a breath and glowered at the ground, he didn't know what he had done to her. He crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eye ridge. He was waiting for her to speak, but she wasn't going to, she guessed he didn't view the rejection any different than any of the other times. He only did every time she mentioned it, but this time he had really done it.

"Are you still upset?" He acted like this was odd, though she didn't see it as odd at all. Her eyes shifted as they watched the ground. She noted a small bug crawling across the pavement, she felt Sonic's eye burning into her, blaming her for being upset. She just heaved another deep breath and slowly raised her green eyes to meet his own. Flashes from the previous day came through her mind again. "Amy?" She tried to pull herself from her thoughts, but she drown herself in what had happened. She wanted so badly to forget about it, but she couldn't. Then she thought of the one thing that had allowed her to stop, Shadow. It did stop once she thought of him.

Amy finally looked up into his eyes and smiled slightly, a fake one, but Sonic never noticed those kinds of things, "No way...you're not that great!" She put the pep back in her voice, and she kept the fake smile plastered across her own face. She had cuts on her arms that she had done, and she could still find the nerve to lie to this hedgehog. He didn't notice though, he just smiled and her and patted roughly on the back.

"I knew you'd get over it!" He grinned, she just nodded to him. She shrugged her shoulders and turned away to leave. Her mind stayed focused on Shadow, so she didn't cry. She couldn't believe she could think of the black hedgehog as an escape from Sonic. She had never seen Shadow like that before. He was cute, but still, Sonic had always been her primary focus, but now she almost thought she could be falling in love with him. Amy slowly shook off the thought, because she didn't want to be in love again, but she knew Shadow had earned the chance.

She nodded her head, "Yeah, well, I gotta be somewhere, so I'll see you later." Amy stared at Sonic to see if he saw even the slightest hint of sadness, he didn't. He raised an eyebrow at her, questioning her on where she had to be. Anger overcame her as she saw the look. He had no right to question her like this. Not after what he had done. She stared blankly at the blue hedgehog, she began to walk off again and she felt his hand on her shoulder. The girl managed to force a smile, and looked back at him, "Sonic, I need to go."

"Where do you have to be?" His voice was extremely strict. She clenched her fists and stared away from him. She didn't believe she had to answer him but she knew it was just going to stir emotions if she didn't. Her body trembled with the familiar depression she had felt the other day.

Her eyes met his then drifted back down to the ground, "Cream's." Her lie completely shocked her, the least she could have done was said it wasn't his business. But she had just completely lied to the hedgehog she had loved for so many years, the hedgehog she had almost killed herself over. She wouldn't look up at him and she felt his eyes burning like spears into her body, she took a deep breath and knew she had to stick with this story, but she knew Shadow and Sonic were friends, Shadow may very well tell him she was over there after she left. The eyes slowly got a gentler look about them and she felt his grip loosen on her shoulder, then his hand dropped. Amy wondered what had him so riled up about her having to be somewhere.

She raised her eyes to look at him and she saw him smile slightly, "Well, okay." A slight relief came over her when she saw the smile, but she couldn't help but despise him for it. Amy started off again, she felt him to continue looking at her as she walked. She bit her lower lip hard and broke the skin of it. A curse escaped her mouth and she brought her hand up to wipe away the new flow of blood. "Amy..." He just wasn't going to quit, she wiped angrily at her mouth for a few more moments then turned back to him, the distance between them having increased, making her slightly more comfortable. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?" Amy realized he had noticed something was bothering her, this made her feel a little better at least he wasn't completely blind.

"Sonic, I promise you, I'm absolutely fine, but I really have to go!" She gave him a reassuring nod. She kept building up lies to him, she still loved him somewhere in her heart and this formed a clot of guilt somewhere in her veins. She simply brushed it off and began to walk away again, she felt his eyes leave her this time.

---

Shadow moaned as he watched Vector and Espio converse in his own apartment. "Guys..." His voice was simply drowned out by their talks of whatever it was they were about. It was something having to do with some mission, they were detective though they had just decided that his building was going to be the best thing to talk about. He didn't care if they both lived down the hall, they could have this in their own apartments. He gritted his teeth, sick of sitting their listening to the two of them, he liked them both okay, but right now he wanted to be alone. He let his feet hit the floor from his position on the couch, "Espio! Vector!" That caught their attention and both their glances turned to the black hedgehog. He simple crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at them, "Is it necessary to have this conversation in the comfort of _my_ home?"

Vector slowly raised a hand to the back of his head and gave Shadow a guilty expression, he seemed apologetic, but Espio was the one to speak, "Oh, sorry Shadow, guess we just caught up in the conversation." Shadow quirked an eye ridge and nodded his head. They both started for the door, then Espio whirled back around to face him, "Are you expecting company or something?" Shadow shook his head, he wasn't expecting any, but he was going to get some.

"Then why do you want us out so badly?" The black hedgehog heaved a desperate sigh and gave Vector a look of dismay. Espio was giving the gator a similar look as he slowly patted him on the back and started urging him out the door. Vector seemed confused enough, it wasn't like him to be stupid, Shadow just figured he was having a bad day.

"Privacy, Vector, privacy." Vector snapped his fingers in realization and stopped having to be pushed by Espio and made his own way out. Espio gave Shadow a quick wave and closed the door behind him. Shadow laughed at the two of them, he wondered where Charmy could have possibly been, but then just decided it would have been even noisier had he been there. He slowly flicked on the TV and saw it talking about some women who had been raped. The reporter on the news had an extremely nasally voice and made Shadow cringe each time she spoke up. He didn't turn it off though, after a few seconds of watching it, not taking in a word, he figured he may as well go outside as this place was getting a little too cozy for his tastes.

He slowly moved over to the door and opened it, he blinked as he saw the pink hedgehog standing there, "Amy?" Amy smiled softly at him and he just stared at her for a moment, she gave him a slight nod and then a wave. Shadow had no clue what to say to her as he definitely wasn't expecting her though his mind had been on nothing but her over the past few hours.

"Hey, Shadow." He smiled at her after a second and wondered if he should invite her in or not, his apartment was genuinely a mess and she had never even been in it before. He didn't have to do anything though because he felt her tug on his wrist, "You looked like you were about to go ut anyway, you so wanna go for a walk?" That was a relief. He was really bad with girls, when he had said 'no' to Rouge it had sounded like the meanest, most blunt rejection in the history of absolutely ever. He had thought it was being subtle.

He couldn't help but maintain his usual stature though, "Hn...whatever, Amy." His heart had basically skipped a beat when he saw her, but he saw no reason to come forth with information like this. A grin came over her, as she seemed to like this behavior. She was glad he wasn't overly nice like Sonic had been at times, when he hadn't run off. Then again, Shadow was just acting like himself at least he wasn't running away.

She gave him a slight pout and forced him out of the door way, he closed it behind him, signaling he didn't mind going with her, "You know Shadow..." He took his arm back and just walked with her, as being pulled by her wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. "...I thought about you a lot last night, that was really sweet of you to walk me home." She wasn't lying to Shadow, even if she wasn't telling him the whole truth either, she had thought of him a lot last night, which was the reason she was still standing in front of him.

He just sent her a mindful glance, "Isn't that nice? You weren't thinking about Sonic?" She just shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. She bit her cheek at the mention of Sonic her heart thudding in a sense of sadness, but after looking at him she forgot all about it. She was beginning to get really comfortable around this hedgehog she had hardly known before. She looked down at the ground and decided on a suitable answer for him. She wanted to scream how could she have been thinking of him after what he had done, and she would have, had Shadow and Sonic not been somewhat of friends.

"How could I? After all, he did reject me for the last time." She felt him give her a skeptical smile. She glanced up and realized she had been correct about the glance she was getting from him. Amy couldn't hold back a real smile as she looked up at him. She wanted to be in love with him, but then again, she didn't. The female hedgehog figured he didn't believe her, and she had thought of Sonic, but he had rejected her for the last time, she wasn't running back to him again.

Shadow redirected his glance and she felt the red eyes leave her, "I bet he has." He scowled in his direction. Even though he was wrong, she couldn't help but idolize him at the moment. To be honest, when she fell in love, she fell really hard. She had a nauseating feeling that told her she was falling really hard right now, she was praying he was too. He noticed her staring, but didn't mention it, as he was enjoying the attention she was giving him.

"Come on...a girl can only get rejected so many times." Shadow smiled in her direction and nodded his head. His eyes slowly moved up and down her once he got the nerve to look at her and then he shrugged his shoulders. He didn't believe she was fully over Sonic, but she was definitely trying this time at least. She gave him a slight smile, "Did I get on your nerves, showing up like that?" Shadow just shook his head quickly, he needed to spend some more time with her before he figured anything out.

"No, I didn't have anything better to do anyway." She gave him a quick smile, then turned back to the ground. Her thoughts raced back to what she had done last night. She wondered if it was wrong or if it had genuinely helped. She didn't know what this day would lead to, but she couldn't help but question if she would do what she had again tonight. He eyed her, getting the vague impression something was wrong with her, but he didn't ask.

She took a deep breath, "He really hurt me this time, Shadow." He blinked, wondering why she had chosen him to confide him, he had never been too good at comforting people who were upset. Actually, he basically sucked at it. "I don't know why, but it was the way he said it...he was so mean, it's like he really never will care." He kept his eyes focused on her, she was really pretty. He didn't know how Sonic couldn't care about a girl like her, she had been somewhat annoying but most girls were in their own way.

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders once again, "I don't know what to tell you, Amy...I don't know Sonic that well..." He figured he really meant that, he was never going to love Amy or even like her. So it was probably best that she was moving on, "You'll find someone, Amy...even if it isn't Sonic." Her green eyes rushed up to meet his and a slight blush came over her cheeks and she had to look at the ground once again.

She slowly ran her hand down her arm, wondering how the phrase her next question, "I think I already have." She mumbled quietly, noting his stare as she finished, "But...when you rejected Rouge..." She changed the subject before he could question her any further. "...did you feel bad, do you think Sonic feels bad?" Shadow nodded his head, Sonic had seemed to be feeling slightly guilty before, he thought it was guilt anyway, he never could tell with that stupid faker.

'_Already has? What is she talking about?' _He kept his thoughts to himself as he focused on answering the question she had asked, "No...not really." He cursed himself mentally for saying that, now it was going to look like Sonic didn't give a shit. He took a deep breath and waited for her response as she simply looked him over. He had spent more time thinking about her, and being with her in the past two days than he had...ever. The only time they had even had a serious conversation was on the ARK, when she had to convince him to help everyone out.

She sighed after a moment, she didn't know if that meant Sonic didn't feel bad at all or what, she just simply nodded her head, at least he hadn't lied, "I wonder if Sonic does..." Shadow kept his eyes on her for a long time before he responded she kept moving though, her eyes staring into the ground blankly. Finally she lifted her glance back up to him, wanting a response. He just shrugged his shoulders.

"Probably." He decided not to mention his encounter with the blue hedgehog yesterday. She would probably just get upset and wonder what all they had said. He red eyes focused on the space before him, he realized he had been completely staring at her. _'She's...so pretty...'_ His thoughts frightened him yet again, first he thought about her constantly and now he thought she was pretty. Something was seriously happening in his mind and he couldn't figure out what. After Maria, Shadow had no intentions of 'loving' anyone ever again.

Her position shifted as she stopped moving, he walked for a second after she did and then turned to look at her, "Probably...man, he's such a jerk!" Shadow gave her a look of interest as she stared at the ground in what seemed to be a fit of anger. He let her finish though, as she looked madder than he had ever witnessed, "He doesn't care about anyone but himself!" Shadow glanced behind him, they were in the park now, so no one was around to see her. He wasn't embarrassed but he was hoping Sonic or someone wasn't standing nearby. He walked back the slight distance he had left from her and put his hands on her shoulders reassuringly.

"Take it easy, Amy...you're acting like a two year old." She took a deep breath and nodded her head, this behavior from Sonic would have resulted in her asking what she had done wrong, but for some reason it almost seemed comforting when Shadow did it. She gave him a warm smile and inhaled after a second.

She just shook her head and pushed some hair behind away from her face, she took Shadow by surprise by simply sitting down. He watched her lower herself to the ground slowly, seeming to be somewhere lost in thought, "Sorry..." Her green eyes flashed a bit of guilt as she looked up to him again, there was something else in her eyes as well, but Shadow was too dense to figure out what it was.

"...yeah." He sighed and shook his head slightly. He sat down beside her though and decided to ask the question that had been weighing on his mind since she mentioned it, "Amy, what did you mean you already found someone else?" Amy just shrugged her shoulders and didn't say anything; the fear of rejection haunting her like it never had before. She toyed with the sleeve of her coat and said nothing. Her body shivered with the thought of repeating the other day. She almost smiled at the thought of being able to bleed all her feelings away, figuring that is what she would do when she got home. She couldn't put herself out there to be hurt again, even if Shadow might have deserved a chance it was too risky. Guilt began to form in the pit of her stomach with the blame she was placing on the dark hedgehog. "Amy?" His voice pulled her from her thoughts once again.

She glanced up to him again, her mind thrown into a torrent of complete disarray, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go home and feel suicidal again and do what she had last night, or if she wanted to tell Shadow that she cared about him, like she had for Sonic, fear got the better of the small hedgehog and she said nothing for the longest time, then she decided he deserved an answer, "...just...I think I may have." She thought it was fitting, it didn't tell him anything, but it didn't avoid the subject matter.

"Who?" She winced at the question, she couldn't answer this one right now. Suddenly she stood up and grabbed his arm again. A brief smile came over her, as she expertly avoided answering. He eyed her and didn't stand up for a moment, then figured fighting her wasn't doing any good as she kept pulling, a smile forming across his own face. He slowly let her jerk him up off the ground.

"Come on, Shadow...do you have anything to do today?" Shadow slowly shook his head as he thought it over. He hadn't made any plans, and staying out of the house was avoiding Knuckles dropping by and quizzing him about Rouge.

He eyed her after a moment, then decided she was waiting on a verbal response, "No...not that I can think of...why?" Amy simply smiled at him and her eyes lit up.

She bit her lip slightly, and thought, _'Well...maybe if I spend some time with him, I can figure things out.' _She nodded her head, seeming to be more cheerful than she had been yesterday or moments ago. He stared at her for a long time before she spoke again, "Well, then why don't we spend the day together, hm?" He wondered if he wanted to do that or not, it would give him a chance to get to know her and maybe provide some insights into why he had been so infatuated with her as of late.

"Sure, why not?" She wrapped her arms around him in a hug for a moment before letting go of him. He stared, a red tint coming to his cheeks. He felt the familiar tug on his arm as she started in another direction. He realized she had avoided answering his question and he wondered what the answer was. He didn't know if it was him or someone else, but she obviously didn't feel like disclosing that information to him.

---

Shadow kicked the dirt as he watched Amy doodle in the sand with a stick, she was smiling, then again she had been smiling for the larger portion of the day. He couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking and couldn't help thinking about her either, _'I never knew Amy was so...I mean, I don't know why I haven't noticed her before? She's a lot different when she's not around Sonic...'_

She looked over at him, the sunset seemed to reflect a different color green in her eyes, "What are you looking at?" This triggered a blush in his cheeks, he turned away and looked out into the ocean which was a prettier shade than usual with the reflection of the colors in the sky. Shadow hadn't been one to notice sunsets in the past, but for some reason, being with Amy was making him notice a lot of different things. He felt her stare at him for a few more minutes then roll her eyes and look away.

"Nothing, and I guess we need to go home...it's getting late."

She nodded her head and walked over to him, she watched him to see what he was going to do and he seemed to be thinking about something or other. He turned away and she began to follow him. She wanted to ask him to walk her home, but she did not want to seem clingy. "Yeah..." He turned to her and gave her a look after a moment.

"I guess it would only be appropriate for me to walk you home." She simply smiled and nodded her head, Shadow seemed to be getting good at reading her mind. She couldn't help but hope that he didn't get too good at reading her feelings or he might find out a few things that she didn't need him to know. A thought crossed her mind about how he would feel if he knew she had done that, she wanted to know if he would care. She couldn't ask him though, so she'd have to remain curious.

He simply led her home, he didn't take her hand or anything. She watched him, he was in front and she caught him idly glance her direction. The walk felt like it took forever, the air was freezing. She shivered slightly and he sent her a look, "It's cold out here." Shadow nodded his head, he wanted to offer her something and he would have had he had anything to offer. He put his arm around her shoulder and she leaned against him.

The talked about nothing in particular the rest of the way to her house, he finally released her shoulder as she walked up to her house. A timid smile came over her face as she gave him a slight hug, he felt himself blush beneath his fur. He smiled slightly and caressed her back just slightly. Amy slowly gave him a kiss on the cheek and muttered, "Thank you, Shadow." Her voice was in a bit of a whisper and Shadow heard that vague depression return to her voice. He smiled and nodded at her as he turned to leave. He felt the slight red in his cheeks cease to go away. He didn't understand why he was blushing, you couldn't really see it because it was masked by his fur, but he could feel it.

'_...why do I keep acting like this?' _Amy stood on her porch and watched him leave again. She winced slightly as he disappeared from sight and she turned back towards her door. It was so plain, her pearl white teeth sunk into the skin of her lip as she thought about whether or not to go in. It was cold outside, but she felt as if she may be colder once she walked in. Her mind filled with thoughts of the blood on the floor mixed with Sonic. She wanted to concentrate on Shadow, but something about this house wouldn't let her. She had so many memories of Sonic here, he was all she had ever wanted in this house. Maybe she needed to get out, she slowly turned the knob and entered the somewhat messy quarters. The female hedgehog let her eyes drift softly about the room picking up what was around. Amy was always a cheerful person so she had pictures of everyone, mainly Sonic. Her eyes filled with tears as she stared at them all, a gasp escaped her throat as she flung her hand towards one, smacking it to the ground with tremendous force.

"I hate you, Sonic!" She screamed it as loud as her voice would allow,then stared at the floor blankly. Glass scattered underneath the bottom of the photo. She growled and used her foot to kick it across the room, thankfully it didn't turn over. It just skidded across the carpet. She walked to the wall and snarled at another one as she tore it down viciously. Amytore through the pictures like acid through skin, throwing them to the floor, watching the glass scatter about the room. She even picked up one and ripped the actual picture.Green irisesstared at the picture in her hands. She held her teeth firmly together as she walked towards the garbage and let the pieces float freely into it.The pink hedgehogturned and saw one of herself. Amy growled, cursing herself, why would she have put a picture of that in her room?It seemed conceited and stupid to her now.She tore down the photo and slammed the frame down on to the floor, stepping on it hard enough to break it in half and it snapped. She reached for it and turned it over.Slowly hertrembling handspulled out her picture and started to shred it. She tore a jagged line straight down her face, then shredded it into seemingly thousands of tiny pieces. She walked to throw it away, but stopped. She simply put the pieces furiously into a drawer and stormed into the kitchen.

She picked up the knife steadily and stormed into the bathroom. She couldn't get the blue hedgehog off her mind. It went back and forth over every thought she had ever held about him. Amy slowly rolled up the sleeves of her coat and began the procedure the same as she had done before. The knife sliced through her tender flesh with ease. She saw the tiny red lines forming and blood escaping them, her overturned wrist becoming a mass of red. She smiled and continued. Her thoughts refused to think, they got caught in nothing but a jumble of anger and depression. She continued the process like a serial killer in a room of innocent children. Finally, as the young hedgehog reached to cut again, her mind stopped being jumbled. It wasn't Sonic this time though, it was Shadow. Suddenly she dropped the knife to the floor and fell to her knees in the almost puddle of blood that had been formed. The pink hedgehog suddenly felt horrific. She didn't even clean up the mess she jerked her jacket off and it fell to the floor, bloodstains slowly soaking into it. Her body dragged itself tiredly to her room, she collapsed on her bed.

The sheets were white and she saw red magically appear on them, she closed her eyes. The back of her eyelids wouldn't show her dark, just Shadow. That was all she could think about and what he would think of what she had just done. Was she being selfish? The girl wanted to kill herself again and then thought of the consequences, she didn't know if she cared. Her mind slowly drifted into an unknown sleep, a sleep where strange dreams awaited her once again.

_Amy watched the tide, quietly. No one else was around, it seemed to be the hour of twilight. She watched the tide, not saying anything, not thinking anything. Suddenly her head jerked up to the sky, there were two moons. Yellow and full moons sat up in the sky. Her eyes widened as she saw this and her head turned back to the tide. It had almost reached her, with every flow of the waves it got higher. It began to touch her feet as she stepped back. "Why is the tide so high?" But it didn't stop where it normally did. _

_Her mind seemed to swirl and it just got higher and higher. Before she could think she was being overtaken by a wave of some sort. She tried to take a breath and the water came over her head. It was suffocating her. Her world went black, she was dying. Just as her mind seemed content with the idea of departing she felt a jerk on her shoulder and a mumble from outside of the water. Her head moved up but it was too blurry, just the water. She felt the arm but she couldn't see it. Amy couldn't see the surface of the water, then finally she saw it. Nothing but a blurry mixture of colors was on the other side. A figure as well, the one trying to save her, but she could make nothing of it out. But the grip was firm. Her mind was beginning to drift again, she was dying. She couldn't breathe. Suddenly she felt herself being lifted from the water, she didn't fight it. It pulled her up, she opened her mouth to breath and her eyes began to drift towards her savior..._

Amy gasped as she jerked herself up, the cold sweat from the last night trickling down her forehead and back once again. She hadn't seen the person who saved her, she had wanted so badly to see. She closed her eyes, maybe they would still be there, but there was only blackness now. Nothing to provide her with any help, suddenly memories of the night came flooding back and tears began rolling down her pale cheeks. She stared out the open doorway and saw all the pictures. Sonic filled her mind and the thoughts came flooding back, like the tide had rushed in so quickly in the dream. The green-eyed hedgehog let out a choked sob and suddenly jerked herself from the bed, the realization that she had not even removed her heels hit her, but she ignored it. She grabbed her coat and ran for the door. The girl didn't even know the time she just ran out. The burst of cold hit her like a brick wall, her mind frosting over like ice. She began to run as fast as she could, not even she realized where she was going.

Her mind swirled again, Amy couldn't grasp what she was trying to think of now. It was just swirling like a sort of whirl pool. She felt like she had in the dream before, she couldn't breathe. The night air was piercing her lungs, maybe it was freezing them, maybe she would die before she reached wherever she was running. Maybe she was running to the beach. The air was cold and the sky was completely black, no stars, no moon. It fit her emotions, dark, empty. The pink hedgehog faced forward and just kept running, the adrenaline pumping through her veins like a steady heart beat, maybe that was her heart beat. The only thing that proved she was still alive. Amy could grasp absolutely nothing, not Sonic, not Shadow, not her dream. She was running, that was all she knew. Maybe she would end up being grabbed by some rapist and killed and they would all be sorry she was gone. Maybe Sonic would regret treating her like he had, maybe...Shadow... Amy had dropped the coat somewhere, andit was far too dark to turn back now, everyone would know what she had done.

She felt the icy wind on her cuts, it seemed to breathe new life into them, the dried blood was still on her arm though the wounds had ceased to bleed. Everyone would know when they saw her, she tried to think of an excuse to say, why did she have to excuse it though? Amy felt she had to, but she didn't understand why. Her body ached but continued to sprint, tiredness beginning to seep into her veins. The fragile hedgehog slowly felt herself slow up and she felt the the force of frigid ground... blackness ensued.

* * *

Oh, cut me some slack. The end is somewhat choppy and doesn't sound great, I'll do better next time. I swear. That as at midnight that I wrote the ending, but I needed to do it. So...therefore...it's a little blah...

Whoaa...that's not the END...I just meant the end of the chapter...it's gonna be about another week though because my computer is being looked at and the almost finished chapter 3 is on there...


	3. Broken Perserverence

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Broken Perseverance**_

* * *

Shadow rummaged around his kitchen. He realized he had absolutely nothing good to eat. He just slammed the last cabinet and resigned to being hungry. He walked into the living room and slowly let himself fall on the couch. His red eyes dragged their way over to the clock to check the time, it was past 3 am. Shadow didn't know why he was up, he had gone to sleep but he just wanted to let his mind drift for now. He stared at the black TV screen, it didn't interest him and he let his eyes wander around the room. They stopped on the door, he had a feeling of nausea, that was unlike him to be feeling sick, but he was. Amy crossed his mind again, how typical. He couldn't stop thinking about her, the day before hadn't brought any ease to his troubled mind. He kept seeing the way she smiled, he really did think she was beautiful. She really was. He cursed Sonic silently for being so hateful to her. It was so strange how he noticed all of a sudden. It had just been in that one instant where she was upset over Sonic rejecting her. She had never taken the blue hedgehog seriously, Shadow had never taken _her_ seriously until that moment.

His thoughts went to Sonic after a few seconds. He bit the inside of his cheek as he thought, Sonic was so full of himself. Shadow had never exactly been envious of him, but he had never been overly fond of him. He didn't hate him, not that he never had, he had just gotten over it, but he didn't like him either. His disposition towards Sonic dropped every time he thought of the sad look Amy had on her face. A knot twisted and formed in his stomach as he slowly gritted his teeth. The black hedgehog closed his eyes in irritation, shaking the image of the fragile girl from his mind. That did nothing as the image was replaced by the cocky azure hedgehog grinning and the anger came back full fledged. He sighed deeply and shook his head, he was behaving incredibly irrationally and he knew that. Another out of character thing for him to be doing, he honestly didn't know what was wrong with himself.

Then his thoughts went back to the one thing he had always thought about, the one normal thing he still had on his mind, Maria. The blonde girl was talking, she had a smile on her face that looked just like Amy's. He smiled and shook his head slightly, Amy was so much like Maria and he had never even seen that before. He felt pathetically blind, he was the Ultimate Life Form, though. Now he felt pathetic in general, he may have been falling in love and he was the Ultimate Life Form. He didn't have time for things like love, but his mind dismissed the alarmed thoughts and he began to drift off, his thoughts casting him into a dream-filled sleep of his own.

"_Shadow!" He sat on the ARK, staring off into the black abyss of space that he seemed to be staring off into lately. The voice forced him from his thoughts as he turned to look at Maria. She had a smile on her face and she eventually made her way over to him and cocked her head to the side as her eyes fell upon him, "Shadow, what are you looking at?" He didn't know what he was looking at, so he just shrugged his shoulders. Maria laughed at him. _

_His red eyes watched her carefully, he loved this girl, she was never not smiling. He would do anything for her, and she just kept the smile on her face through his confused look, "I don't really know...just staring off, I guess." She nodded her head. The blonde sat down next to him and looked out at what he had been previously focused on. He didn't follow suit though, his eyes stayed on her and she slowly came to look at him again. He opened his mouth to speak but she spoke first._

"_It's beautiful, isn't it?" Shadow simply nodded his head. He kicked his foot into the hard floor of the ARK and stared away from her out into it again. _

"_But...it's so empty." She gave him a confused look, then slowly wrapped her arms around him. He blushed beneath his fur, but just gave her a wide-eyed stare. She pulled back and her blonde hair fell over her shoulders just slightly. _

_She giggled for a moment then patted him on the head, "...but that's the beauty of it, silly! It's not tainted by all these other things!" The thought blew Shadow away, he had no clue what she was talking about. Tainted, by what? He didn't know of anything that would taint the edges of space. He sighed deeply and just watched her, then he finally asked._

"_Tainted by what, Maria?"_

_She opened her mouth to speak and an explosion rocked the entire colony. A banging sound followed, he looked at her wanting an answer but she was too preoccupied by the sounds, a worried expression overtaking her usual gleeful one._

A banging on the door jerked him out of his slumber. He looked around frantically as the light of the sun nearly blinded him. His eyes searched for the clock, trying to get his bearings. It read 9 am. That was good, he hadn't slept too late. Unfortunately, his neck had the world's worst crick in it. He hated falling asleep on the couch, as his couch was uncomfortable. The banging came again, and he realized it _was _coming from the door. "Shadow! Hello, are you up yet?" The black hedgehog cursed Knuckles for being so loud.

"How could _anyone_ sleep through your little escapade?" He muttered this through gritted teeth and he slowly made his way towards the door and swung it open. He almost nailed Knuckles in the face, but luckily he backed off in time. "I'm awake, Knuckles!" He almost screamed at the red echidna, but Knuckles just waved cheerfully at him. He knew he had woken Shadow up by the look in his eyes, the echidna seemed to live to annoy the black hedgehog.

"Great! Guess what? Me and Rouge are going to go out again soon!" Shadow did a little bit of a twirl with his finger to try to symbolize enthusiasm, when it simply showed Knuckles that Shadow absolutely did not care. He began to shut the door as he mumbled something about that being great when Knuckles stuck his hand in the door, "Come on! Don't ya wanna talk to me?" Shadow opened it a little wider for a short moment and thought, or pretended to, for about three seconds.

"...no, not really." Knuckles rolled his eyes and simply flicked his wrist at the black and red hedgehog. Shadow gave him a half-hearted smirk and began to close the door again, he hated seeing people right when he got out of bed. He felt like he looked gross, he guessed he didn't though, because Knuckles was usually pretty blunt about those things. He remembered the dream, an annoyance that Knuckles had been knocking, he wanted Maria to answer him. The memory replayed in his mind, he hadn't gotten a real answer that day either. Gerald has screwed up an experiment and things had gone downhill from there, Maria and himself hadn't gotten the opportunity to talk alone again, and then all that happened and she was gone. He was never going to get his answer, that had haunted him from the day she died. Except when he had been frozen in that tube, but he had thought of it after that even. It eventually gave way to more present problems, but the dream brought the question back. He guessed he knew what she meant, but he did want to hear her answer.

After slamming the door he slowly pressed his back against it and slid down it to sit in a position against his door. It looked as if he was trying to prevent someone from coming in. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The black hedgehog tried to relax but his mind prohibited him from doing so. He bit his lower lip and reluctantly opened his eyes once again, they drifted back over to the clock, which still held the same hour it had before. It was really late enough for him to get out and about, but a pounding headache kept him from even starting to get ready. He needed a shower more than anything though, he hated being unclean for some reason, and he felt like every day on this planet he got filthy. It was somewhat disgusting. He picked himself up and began dragging over towards the bathroom.

---

Amy felt something jerk at her shoulder, the pavement burned on her face like a freight train. She hissed through gritted teeth and slowly opened her eyes and wearily turned herself over to face the object of her awakening. She stared up at Cream, the bunny looked positively mortified as she stared at Amy. The pink hedgehog kept one eyes closed as she stared at Cream, pain spread throughout her veins like wildfire. She bit her lower lip and tried to speak to Cream but her throat was dry, she was freezing and she was hot. Amy realized she was sweating again and then her memory kicked in and where she was all came pouring back into her mind at once. Her breath drew in and Cream started to speak, "Amy! Are you okay! Say something!" She didn't know what to say though, she had to get away from Cream or everyone would know. Her coat? She had brought it. She held back a wince when she remembered she had dropped in her own madness.

"Cr-Cream." Amy slowly began to shift herself into a sitting position and the rabbit helped her. Amy noticed Cheese over to the side looking somewhat concerned as well. The green-eyed hedgehog simply pushed Cream away the cuts in her arm burning like crazy. There was no pint in trying to hide it now, she had no way of doing so and being obvious about hiding it wasn't going to get her anywhere. The rabbit's eyes slowly drifted to the cuts and widened in horror as they fell upon them. She raised her soft eyes to meet Amy's tormented ones. The pink hedgehog knew what Cream was about to ask but didn't have the strength nor will to tell her what had happened ahead of time. Her mind raced with ways to make up an excuse. No, that wasn't going to work. She couldn't falsely blame someone for what she had done to herself, all she could do was softly pray the bunny would agree to keeping her mouth closed about it. Thinking about it, she winced at the thought of Shadow finding out.

"Amy...did you...do this?" Amy just stared into her eyes for a long time, she looked away and stared at the pavement she had been laying on. No blood had seeped on to it, for it seemed all of it had dried. All she had to do was go home and see tons of red painted sheets on her bed. She bled plenty there. She could feel the stickiness of her arms as the red liquid clung there, like a sort of candy, clinging to her, giving her a feeling of uncleanliness. Her mind wandered and she knew she probably needed to answer Cream, though her silence was as good as an answer. Her green eyes finally fell upon her questioner and she sighed resignedly. She couldn't hide it, they were obviously self inflicted wounds. Slowly the hedgehog nodded her head painfully. Tears welled in the rabbit's eyes as she stared at Amy, "Why? WHY!" Amy's lips quivered as she tried to speak. She wanted to stand up and run away but she couldn't do that. Her body wasn't responding to any of her demands. She was exhausted, frail and weak, she had lost more blood than she thought possible. "Answer me!" Cream continued to shout at her, but it seemed as if the rabbit was getting further and further away which each cry for explanation.

Comfortable darkness began to take over her vision again and everything blurred. Thoughts raced through her mind but she didn't know what they were of. Cream's shouts changed from desperate to worried in no time. Her distance grew larger and larger until Amy's mind drew black once again.

--

The softness underneath her tender flesh was the first thing that greeted her, it felt so much better than the cold concrete she had taken her other nap on. Her eyes fluttered slowly and light caused her to close her eyes fiercely once again. She began to take in some voices, though they sounded as distanced as Cream's had before she passed out. Or...that's what she figured had happened. She wondered if she was dead, or if this was another dream. She couldn't be conscious, she couldn't take in anything. The frail hedgehog finally thought she heard her name, she didn't recognize the voice yet though. As the voice seemed to close in on her she realized it was a female one, it was Cream's. That was good, the bunny had been there when she had fallen unconscious, maybe she hadn't told anyone. If she told anyone what Amy had done, everyone would think she was insane, some depressed suicidal maniac. The thought of that seemed to strike her like a rough physical blow as even with both eyes closed she seemed to wince. Her ears tried to focus again, "...Amy, are you awake, Amy?" It was definitely Cream, Amy searched for the strength to respond but it was no where to be found.

Finally after what seemed like hours, Amy found some words lingering in her dried throat, "...I-I'm awake." The blurred colors seemed to take the form of Cream, as she saw the outline of her face, and her features were slowly filled in. The bunny seemed as worried as before, she was chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip.

"Amy, tell me what happened?" Amy slowly found herself sitting up, finally her body was beginning to respond to some of the requests she was making. Maybe it had been angry at her for injuring it like she had. She was angry at herself for doing it, so angry that she wanted to do it again. Was she getting stuck on this? Amy moaned softly at the thought of it, Cream watched her slowly. Reluctantly, the hedgehog began to speak again, "...I...I don't know, I just couldn't take it." The green eyed hedgehog sighed deeply, the rabbit had no idea what _it _was. She began searching for the answer to what exactly it was, Sonic, rejection?

"It?" The exact question Amy had predicted, even in her feeble state of mind she could read Cream like a book. Simply, the hedgehog nodded her head to confirm that's what she said. She didn't know how to get across that she wasn't sure what it was. Cream patiently waited for more of an explanation to come, she was waiting so patiently that Amy knew there was no getting out of explaining further to the bunny.

"...Sonic...rejecting me. That's all he ever did! He rejected me! He was never going to love me! And I loved him! He's the only person I'll ever love and he hates me! I don't even want to live...without him." She couldn't stop herself, she was just screaming at Cream. Maybe she didn't mean half of what she was blurting out, but she was screaming it nonetheless, it felt good. Almost as good as cutting herself, it was releasing the tension, she wasn't bottling it up anymore. The dumbfounded expression on the cream-colored creature's face worried Amy, maybe she had just shouted gibberish and not real words. She felt tears start to burn in her eyes for a reason unknown to her.

"Don't cry, Amy!" Cream sounded almost angry, but worried in the exact same breath. "Sonic's not worth this! He's just a stupid guy!" Amy stared at her, she was right. But, if she was right, thousands of girls had this problem over "just a stupid guy". Not necessarily Sonic, but some stupid guy. The hedgehog simply agreed with a nod of her head.

"I know..." Finally another thought entered her mind, perhaps the first real thought that came into her mind since she passed out on the sidewalk. Shadow... She had almost forgotten about him, and something in that thought, the thought of him, made her stop crying. Then, she almost started again because she wanted to be near him, but she didn't want him to know what she had done. A feeling to guilt and embarrassment came over her immediately. She wondered if he'd be appalled or worried that she did it. Maybe both, maybe just appalled it scared her to think of all the reactions he could have to it, and none of them were good. "People cry over stupid guys a lot of the time though, Cream." Cream nodded her head in understanding, then a firm look entered the orangish colored eyes again.

Amy watched her intently as she began to speak, "But most girls don't do this! You can't let him upset you like this!" Cream quickly put her hands on her hips and shook her head furiously. Then she turned around to look towards the door, "I figured you didn't want anyone to know...so I just brought you back home and..." The small rabbit bit into her lower lip and suppressed the tears brimming in her eyes.

The pink hedgehog quickly nodded her head so as the bunny didn't have to finish her sentence. "Thank you for being so thoughtful!" Amy smiled, she tried to get that horrendous look off Cream's face but it wasn't going anywhere. The small creature simply nodded her head, then sat down on the bed near Amy. The smile slowly faded from the small hedgehog's face, her green eyes filling with a sort of remorse.

Cream slowly looked at her again, but the silence in the room remained, all of the words she knew were caught in a jumble in the pit of her throat. She drew in a breath and decided not to say anything, she couldn't believe Amy would do this. It was so out of character for the cheerful girl, so...strange. Her eyes remained on the young hedgehog, but the green eyes that belonged to her weren't on Cream. Amy swallowed a disgusting taste, feeling like the guilt was actually being forced down her throat in the form of this nauseating taste. Dread overwhelmed her, she didn't ever want to get up and go out into the world again. Finally thoughts of Sonic entered her mind again, and her heart was twisted unnaturally. She squeezed her eyes shut immediately. "...do you want me to leave?" Cream knew of nothing else to say, she didn't need to leave, Amy could do precisely what she had been doing.

Amy nodded her head though and Cream did nothing but start towards the door against all her better judgement, "Amy..." The rabbit started again as she neared the door, "Promise me you won't...do that again." The pink hedgehog simply nodded her head nonchalantly, the promises she made to this rabbit meant nothing. She would probably do this again right after she left, now she felt horrendous because someone knew. Amy felt guilty but she still felt sorry for herself, or...something like that.

"I won't."

---

It was nearing sunset and Shadow knew this, he swore fifty million people had come to his house today. The one person he wanted to see wasn't even among them, he had been thinking of Amy all day long. He wanted to see her now, but he was way to full of himself to go over there on his own accord, not to mention, he would probably get lost, he walked her home, but he was so set on her he was just following her movements, not being very observing. This was not very in character of the red streaked hedgehog. He sat with his back against the wall, he never seemed to be on any furniture, just on the floor. Sonic had pointed this out a time or two, he smiled at the thought as his mind plunged into the memory of no more than a month ago.

"_You're supposed to knock when you walk into someone's house." The grin across the azure hedgehog's face was so unnerving. He made his statement matter-of-factly, but he honestly hadn't minded. Well, it had slammed the door against his back, but other than that it was ok. Sonic rolled his green eyes finally._

"_I never knock." He crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at Sonic, who just kept that grin on his face. Suddenly, a sour look came over his face, "...why do you always sit on the floor anyway?" Shadow just shrugged his shoulders._

"_So...what did you want?" The azure hedgehog simply shrugged his shoulders then began to speak again after he thought this over tediously. Shadow chewed on the inside of his cheek as he waited for Sonic's response. _

It amused Shadow how well he recalled every event he went through, he always remembered precisely what he had been thinking and doing. He liked that he could recall that sometimes, sometimes he hated it. Especially when it came to Maria, he had lost his memories and now they were back with a vengeance.

"_I'm trying to get away from Amy." The dark hedgehog laughed at him, then shook his head and patted Sonic on the back as he started towards the kitchen._

Shadow figured that's what he had been trying to remember, he always thought it was hilarious how desperate she was for Sonic. He never realized he could feel and that it could break her heart every time he rejected her so harshly. Honestly, he wondered how she did it and was able to remain such an amiable nature. The only time he had seen her be anything but friendly was when he saw her on the steps on City Hall that day. That had been the day he noticed her though, so maybe he liked that she had something under there. On the other hand he hated the fact that she had been so upset. She was so similar to Maria. Maria never had time to think about boys, they were on a space colony and she never seemed very interested in any of the ARK's residents. He had heard her say some of the people were 'cute', but that was all. "What's she see in Sonic anyway...and what did she mean she 'found someone else'?" He rolled his eyes, "Girls..."

He toyed with the thought for a moment as he wondered who it could be, the thought it could have possibly been himself crossed him, but he dismissed it. "What could she possibly see in me?" He shook his head, something of sorrow coming over his mind, "...we're completely different." His mind shifted to Sonic as he thought the hedgehog over, he was a hero and maybe that's what Amy could've liked. Then again, he probably had some amazing trait that Amy found irresistible. Shadow would have killed to know what a girl thought like, their lives seemed to revolve around guys, on Earth anyway. He longed to hear someone knock on his door, and for it to be her, he knew that wasn't going to happen. Well, he expected it wasn't going to, she had no business to come see him for. She hadn't had any the other day when she had come though, and she had. He wished deeply that she'd do that again. His mind wandered through several different things, her, Maria, the ARK, his past, everything. He stared around at the apartment he was in and took in a deep breath. Shadow, in truth, could have found her house, he could have swallowed his pride. He wanted to go see her, but the thought of it caused his whole body to tremble. What was wrong with him?

"I'm sure she's with friends anyway." He tried to reassure himself that it was an idiotic idea. The part of him that he was trying to convince didn't believe it though, that part of him thought that if he could see her. Maybe she'd want to see him too, he had never noticed there was a glimmer of optimism in him. Though, the conscious part was pessimistic and that one figured there was no way Amy would think of him as anything more than a egotistical jerk. That's what he tended to act like around her anyway, he wondered why she had come the other day though. He gritted his teeth, he was so lost and it was all over this dumb girl. This little nuisance of a girl that one of his friends had tried to avoid for years and years. For longer than he had known either of them, Amy had chased Sonic around, he didn't believe there was any way she was just suddenly over him. No one could do that, just forget someone like that. He wished she could, but he knew there was no way.

"_Why are you looking at him like that?" Maria turned her head from her locked position on staring down a man, he looked something like a GUN soldier. Shadow thought it was so weird that Maria would eye one of them like that. The blonde simply smiled when she realized it was him that was standing there, something of relief coming over her worried expression. _

"_Oh! Shadow!" She grinned and looked back at the soldier, with this look of bewilderment, suddenly a giggle escaped her lips. Shadow gave her a look of dismay, what was so funny about the guy? He looked a little nervous and perhaps jumpy, it was probably his first day on the job and everyone acted like that. He didn't look overly special either, he just had short, messy brown hair and slightly tan skin, he wasn't very tall, but tall enough. He just had his uniform on and was clinging tightly to his gun. "Isn't he cute?" She squealed._

_The black hedgehog stared at her like she was insane, what was cute about this soldier? All of them looked the same to him, he shrugged his shoulders in befuddlement. "He doesn't look any different than the rest of the soldiers..." Maria giggled at him and shook her head to disagree with him. _

"_No...he's so much different...he looks nervous...and he's just so cute." Shadow shifted slightly, this was odd. He hadn't ever known Maria to think anything but the doctor's projects to be "cute". True, she thought the strangest things were cute, but she had never spoken of a human in this way. She seemed giddier too, like she, too, was nervous. Maria had definitely never behaved the way. Shadow thought it was so interesting. "I like him!" She declared this. "I was talking to him earlier...his name's Adam." She smiled sweetly and he looked over to her and smiled back. _

"_Maria...what is love?" Maria looked at him in amazement. She had spoken of it before and thought that might be what she was feeling towards the soldier. It seemed "fun", to be acting like such a fool over just another being. It was definitely something stupid and silly and not worth doing, but Shadow liked those kinds of things because he never got to do them._

"_It's when you...well...it's a feeling, a feeling that makes you feel like you're flying! It's the greatest thing in the world to feel!"_

"The greatest thing in the world, Maria?" He spoke to the air as he let his eyes shut, putting his hands behind his head. "More like the most confusing thing." He jerked himself up, blinking, "Not like I'd know! I'm not in love!" A frantic thought came into his mind, he couldn't possibly love Amy, but his subconsciousness sure thought he did. He thought of Amy the same, yet differently than Maria. He cared about her so much, yet he hadn't thought of her as anything more than a friend. He wanted Amy to be so much more. He quickly shook his head and dismissed his thoughts and got up. He crossed his arms, wondering what he should do. Knowing it needed to be something, because he had to get his mind off this stupid pink hedgehog

He wondered what this should be for a moment, then came to the realization that his mind was going to continue nagging until he succumbed to it. He knew he needed to go to her house and talk to her, to figure something out. He just took in a really long breath and stood up, a little shakily at the thought of just showing up at her house. He thought maybe she wouldn't be home, that would work out perfectly. He'd have to have some peace, but some of him wanted her to be there. Maybe she really did want to see him. He started towards the door and twisted the knob, pulling it open. The cold air rushed into him, it seemed to pierce his skin easily. He winced slightly, then slowly walked outside. He had been outside a lot today, though he hadn't ventured far from his apartment.

---

Amy fingered the knife in her hand. Tears burned at her eyes as she shoved it aside, she decided to go get a breath of fresh air. Slowly she grabbed a coat and slipped it on, to cover up her cuts. She stepped outside and cold hit her just like before, she felt like a thousand daggers all stabbed into her at once. She wanted a warmth that she could never seem to find. She cleared her throat mindlessly as she stepped further out into the cold. Her eyes strained to see down the distanced road beyond her porch. Nothing was there at the moment, just a windy barren dirt road that she remembered walking home every day dreaming about Sonic for years. The familiar tears returned to her green irises as she stared towards the railing she clung to, it was black, a intricate design, very firm though. Amy simply sighed and began to walk down the steps that led to the ground from her porch. Beginning that long walk towards station square, she didn't want to go there really, but she was anyway. If she went back in, where the knife was, she would do it again.

Her mind swirled around memories of Sonic, now, she couldn't seem to get him off her mind. The cuts in her arms burned every time his face etched itself in her thoughts. The sun was almost completely set, and darkness was setting in all around her, making the night's frigid air lose the warmth the sun had been previously providing. She ran one pale hand along the fuzzy rim of her coat's sleeve, tears continued to burn at her eyes and she fought them with everything she had, she wasn't crying, but she felt like something was going through her insides like a mad dog.

"Sonic, the Hedgehog..." Her voice was soft and drifted with the wind as it seemed to even pick up as she spoke, she heard his name and it brought some sort of comfort to her. She closed her eyes and kept walking, letting her mind do its own wandering, as if she had any control in the first place. Somehow, it forced its way off of Sonic and on to Shadow, he seemed to be existing there a lot, almost beating Sonic out for how much attention she was paying him. Something about the thought brought more comfort though, the tears died down, the burning sensation that had been there was now gone. She didn't want to cry anymore, she finally decided that's where she wanted to go, to wherever he was. "Shadow..." This time she spoke a different name, and the ring it had almost brought a smile to her reddened, tear-stained face.

---

"Why are you talking to me?" His voice was strained, he had been on the phone for twenty minutes and had gotten absolutely no where. All he was hearing was how wonderful Knuckles was, he was beginning to question his own sanity for ever giving Rouge his number. He was beginning to question his sanity for ever even getting a phone. His rude comment caused her to cease her compliments momentarily.

Rouge seemed to contemplate this for a good long while, "I don't know..." Shadow just sighed resignedly and tried to think of an excuse to hang up the wretched device that was bringing an annoying voice to his ears. She started up again after a few seconds of awkward silence, of which he happened to be enjoying.

"Yeah...well...I have to go." He hung up the phone, hearing her on the other in spitting something about having something else to say but he didn't mention the part about him caring absolutely nothing about hearing it. He really had been far too nice to Rouge, she seemed to come talk to him about everything.

A knock at his door brought Shadow from his muttering about Rouge, and he looked up to the door. He made an annoyed face, as he was almost sure it was Knuckles, as the echidna had not yet informed him how great Rouge was that night and that was something that happened nightly. He dragged himself over to the door though and slowly opened the door, to his surprise it could not have been further from Knuckles, it was Amy. She gave him a weak smile, but something looked very amiss in her eyes, but he blamed it on how annoyed he was with everyone else around him. "Amy?" His voice came out slightly more shocked than he had intended, as he saw her nod her head.

The green-eyed hedgehog stared at him for a long time, "Hey, Shadow...sorry, but I really needed some company tonight, and you were the first person I thought of." This brought a slight smile to his face to think that he was the first person she thought of, the he mentally slapped himself for something so minuscule please him. But, it did, regardless of what he tried to convince himself.

"No, don't worry about it...I was bored too." He stepped aside and let her in. She walked in after him and looked around, his apartment was a little messy, stuff strewn everywhere, but she thought it was kind of cute. It smelled just like Shadow, she swore he always had a particular scent that she noticed every time they were together, she really was beginning to get quite fond of it.

Her eyes wandered around the room, then came to set back on the dark hedgehog, "You're messier than I thought you'd be, Shadow." He nodded, she had been to his house before, but she had never noticed anything, she knew where it was thanks to Sonic, but, when she was in here before, she had just been ready to leave. Now she could have moved in here and not minded one little bit, it seemed to even diminish the burning pain from her wounds.

Shadow simply shrugged his shoulders, "Eh, I'm not messy, just lazy." This earned a smile from the pink hedgehog, as he looked around and tried to figure out what he was supposed to do. Normally, he dealt well with company but her presence was really flustering him, "Uh...do you want anything?" Her eyes drifted to him, she wasn't hungry or anything, but she could think of about sixteen thousand things she wanted. She simply sighed and shook her head though, though she did eventually sit down on his couch. He felt a slight flush in his cheeks and he swore under his breath for a moment.

Amy tilted her head slightly as she noticed the tint even beneath Shadow's fur and she smiled, "Thank you, though." Shadow finally brought himself, through embarrassment to sit down next to her, well, not next to her, more like on the other side of the couch, but it was the same piece of furniture. She bit into her lip and stared at him, she wanted to tell him and she intended to tell him, "Shadow..." She started but all the words got jumbled and merged together and got caught up in her throat.

His red eyes rested on her for a long time, she whimpered slightly and a concerned look came over him. "Is something wrong, Amy?" She nodded her head as she felt the tears begin to burn again, she didn't know what he would do when he found out. Shadow was going to hate her, he was not the type to deal with stuff like this, he would think it was completely pathetic and cowardly. She grinded her teeth together frustrated with herself, she wanted to do it again, and she scorned herself sorely for even thinking of it in the first place. Emotions even Sonic had failed to trigger inside her all welled up at the same time as she stared into those red eyes. "What is it?" She breathed in through her teeth, creating a chilling sensation in her mouth.

"I...need to tell you something...or show you something." She mumbled, but luckily for her, he was listening carefully and understood. Amy decided that if she was going to tell him one thing, she was going to tell him everything.

* * *

Lord...this took forever and a DAY. I didn't expect this chapter to take so long but I kept getting distracted and just couldn't stay focused long enough to finish it, but now I did. So it is here and you can...well, you already read it. So hooray! 


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